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More on industry employment trends…
In my previous post I had mentioned how despite the bleak outlook of the market in general, VCL is about to embark upon a hiring spree. Information trickling out of other studios suggest that VCL is not alone. Many Indian studios and production houses are currently packed with work - be it outsourced or in-house. Most of them are even working on multiple co-productions simultaneously. What seems to have worked in their favour is that most of these projects began before the financial slowdown emerged. And the duration of these projects extends to another year or so. Therefore, the effects of the recession will not be visible in this industry at least for some time to come. A lot of animated features are being currently produced and though I’m not confident of the quality of the animation, it at least bodes well for the animators whose jobs are guaranteed.
What happens after a year remains to be seen. By then, if the situation is improving outside of the industry as well, then one couldn’t be asking for more.
The subject of recession particularly pertaining to the Indian Animation industry has been addressed before in this blog. Read here.
VCL bucks the trend. Plans to increase workforce 5 times over!
While there’s talk of recession, layoffs and pink slips all around, Visual Computing Labs (VCL), India on the other hand is looking to increase its team strength 5 times over!
Sources from the company revealed that VCL, which is a division of Tata Elxsi, plans to increase its headcount from the present 300 to 1500 animators and special effects artists over the next three years. Having completed ‘Roadside Romeo’ they are now working on three more animation films, TV shows for Germany and bidding for large Hollywood projects.
Shemaroo Entertainment’s home production animated film ‘Bal Ganesh’ bags two Awards!
The Li’l Star Awards presented by Red Chillies Entertainment took place at Yash Raj Studios on 31st October and was attended mostly by the stars of Bollywood. What was unique about these awards was that thousands of children from 25 cities in India chose the categories and selected the nominees through a national survey. The final jury for the awards was headed by Neetu Kapoor and comprised of popular child actors from film and television.
Toonz to animate Santa Claus for 2010 Christmas release.
Toonz Animation is all set to foray into feature-length 3D animation, and how! The Thiruvananthapuram-based studio which had earlier created the animation for Hanuman is now going to animate the life of Santa Claus.
Singapore based Toonz Entertainment, which owns the Indian animation studio Toonz Animation India, has tied up with Gang of 7 Animation USA and Hyde Park Entertainment USA to produce a CG animated feature film “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus”, based on the classic book by L. Frank Baum, the creator of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
14 contenders named for the Oscar for Best Animation
As we approach the end of the year, it is time for a lot of speculation over the Oscars. This year 14 films have been shortlisted, the front-runner being (my personal favourite!) Wall-E, Disney/Pixar’s latest masterpiece, and the others being DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Kung-Fu Panda, Israel’s award-winning animated documentary - Waltz With Bashir, London-based Framestore Feature Animation’s first film The Tale Of Despereaux, Blue Sky Studio’s Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who!, Disney’s stereoscopic 3-D Bolt, CG Fantasy films - Delgo and Dragon Hunters, stereoscopic 3-D film - Fly Me To The Moon, Igor, Australian stop-motion film $9.99, and the Japanese anime titles The Sky Crawlers and Sword Of The Stranger.
Waltz with Bashir does mix in some live footage towards the end of the film and I hope it doesn’t go down the same path as Alvin and the Chipmunks did last year, getting disqualified later on a small technicality.
Roadside Romeo bedsheets anyone?
If you are one of those rare ‘Roadside Romeo’ fans, you can now go to bed with the cast, for a small price.
Roadside Romeo, Laila and Charlie Anna
Before you jump to any conclusion, let me clarify that I’m talking about movie merchandise here. The highly anticipated, first ever feature-length 3D animated Indian film may not have set the cash registers ringing or earned too many fans, but a tie-up between YashRaj Films and HomeShop18 will allow you to own a range of specially designed ‘Roadside Romeo’ products including a special bed sheet with dazzling images from the movie, branded Water bottles, tiffin boxes, CD cases, pencil boxes, mugs and notebooks.
